Maize kernel oil is a valuable source of nutrition. Here we extensively examine the genetic
architecture of maize oil biosynthesis in a genome-wide association study using 1.03 million …

Breeding to increase β-carotene levels in cereal grains, termed provitamin A biofortification,
is an economical approach to address dietary vitamin A deficiency in the developing world. …

It has been claimed that plant breeding reduces genetic diversity in elite germplasm which
could seriously jeopardize the continued ability to improve crops. The main objective of this …

A newly developed maize Illumina GoldenGate Assay with 1536 SNPs from 582 loci was
used to genotype a highly diverse global maize collection of 632 inbred lines from temperate, …

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) currently holds about 17
000 samples of maize (Zea mays L.) and teosinte (Z. mays, several subspecies), a wild …

While Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) are extremely useful genetic markers, recent
advances in technology have produced a shift toward use of single nucleotide polymorphisms (…

Background A genome-wide assessment of nucleotide diversity in a polyploid species must
minimize the inclusion of homoeologous sequences into diversity estimates and reliably …

Maize is a globally valuable commodity and one of the most extensively studied genetic
model organisms. However, we know surprisingly little about the extent and potential utility of …

Association mapping based on the linkage disequilibrium provides a promising tool to identify
genes responsible for quantitative variations underlying complex traits. Presented here is …

Background In rice, the GW2 gene, found on chromosome 2, controls grain width and weight.
Two homologs of this gene, ZmGW2-CHR4 and ZmGW2-CHR5, have been found in maize…